SCOTCH COURTSHIP

Observer, Volume 7, Issue 337, 23 May 1885, Page 15

SCOTCH COURTSHIP

AVifli tlio severe Auld Lichfs, says a v.-ritcr in The St. James" Gazette, the Sabbath began at G o'clock on Saturday evening. By that time the gleaming shuttle was at vest, D.ivie Haggart had Rtrolled into the village from his pile of stones on the whunny road ; Hun dry I'obb, the ' dummy,' had sold his last barrowf ul of ' rezeUy (resiny) roots' for firewood ; and the villagers, having tranquilly supper! and soused their faces in their slowly donned their Sunday clothes. This ceremonj" was common to all ; but here divergence set in. The grey Auld Lieht, to whom love was not even a name, sat in his highbacked arm-chair hy the hearth, Bible or ' Pilgrim's Progress' in hand, occasionally lapsing into slumber. But — though, when they got the chance, they went three times to the kirk and taught willingly in Sabbath school — there were young men in t\ia community so flighty that, instead of dozing at home on Saturday night, they dandered casually into the square, and, forming into knots at the corners, talked solemnly of women. Not even on the night preceding his wedding was an Auld Licht ever known to stay "out after 10 o'clock. So weekly conclaves at street-corners came to an end at a comparatively early, hour, one Ccck'bfi after another shuttling silently from the square until it echoed, deserted, to the ' toonhoose' clock. The last of the gallants, gradually discovering that he was alone, would look around him 'musingly, and, taking in the situation, slowly wend his Svny home. On no other night of the week was frivolous talk

..about the softer sex .indvilgccl,jn,_the,Aiil(l. Lichts being creature's "of habit To "whom"-' smiling; .oi| a. "-Sunday was impassible^ Long Jbefore ithey. reached their? fbeqs ■ ■they were earning 1 their keep as licrlle'fs.. in the surrounding glens or tilling ' pirns' for their parents ; but they v/cre generally on the brink of 20* before they thought seriously of. matrimony. Up to that time they only trilled with the other lex's affections at a distance — tilling a maid's water-pails, perhaps, when no one was looking, or carrying her ' wob,' at the recollection of which they would slap their knees almost jovially on Saturday night. A wife was expected to assist at the loom as well as to be cunning in the making of marmalade and the tiring of bannocks, and there was consequently some heartburning among the lads for maids of skill and muscle. It was on one of these sedate Saturday evenings, in the dimly lit square, that Eppie Forsyth was objected to as ' ower ' sma'.' ' Ay,' her affianced said, with a chuckle, ' Eppie'a wee ; but she's an auld tid.' The Auld Licht", however, who meant business seldom loitered in the streets. By and by " there came a time when the clock looked, down through its cracked glass upon the grass-grown square and saw him not. His companions, gazing at each other's boots, felt that something was going on, but made no remark. A month ago, passing through they shabby familiar village, I brushed against a withered old man tottering down (ho street under a load of yarn. It was piled on a wheelbarrow which his feeble hands could not have raised but for the rope of, yarn that supported it from his shoulders ; and though Auld Licht was written on his patient eyes I did not immediately recognise Sanders Whamond. Years ago Sanders was a sturdy weaver and fervent lover whom I had the right to call my friend. Turn back the century a few decades, and we are together on a moonlight night, taking a 'short cut' through the fields from the farm of Craigiebuckle. Buxom . were Gniigiebucklc's ' doehtcrs,' and Sanders was Janet's accepted suitor. It was a lnuddj' road through damp glass, and we picked our wfiy silently over its ruts and pools. ' I'm thinkin',' Sanders said at last, a little wistfully. ' that I mjcht luxe been as weel wi' Christy.' 'Now" Christy was Janet's sister. Ah me ! heavy 4 wobs ' have taken all "the grace from Janet's shoulders this many a year, though she and Sanders go bravely down the hill together. Unless they pass the allotted span of life 'the poor-house' will never know them. As for bonny Christy, she proved a flighty thing, and married a deacon in the Established Church. The Auld Lichts groaned over her full, Craigiebuckle hung his head,, and the minister told her sternly to go her wa}\ But a few weeks afterwards Laug Tamuuts, the chief elder, was observed talking with her an hour in Gowrie's close ; and the very next Sabbath Christy pushed her husband in triumph into her father's pew. The minister, though completely taken by surprise-, at once referred to the stranger in a prayer of great length, as a brand that might yet be plucked from the burning. Changing his text, he preached at him ; Lang Tanmias, the precenter, and the whole congregation (Christy included), sang at him; and . before he exactly realized his position he had become an Auld Licht for life. Christy's triumph was complete when next week, in broad daylight, too, the minister's wife called, and (in the presence of Betsy Muun, who vouches for the truth of the story) graciously asked her to come up to die manse on Thursday, at -i P. M.,